Disbelief as Trump tries to torpedo high-stakes GOP primary: 'Sure, why have people vote?'

President Donald Trump made it known on Wednesday that he wants to take a major election decision away from Republican voters in Texas — and the internet had serious reactions to his comments.

Trump has threatened to interfere in elections before, or flat out cancel them, but after a tight primary race in the Lone Star state between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the president promised an endorsement — but only on the condition that the loser of his choice drop out. A GOP runoff election was slated for May 26, as neither candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote.

"The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer," Trump posted Wednesday. "IT MUST STOP NOW!"

Republican strategists have indicated that Trump was likely to endorse Cornyn, according to a report from The Atlantic.

People responded to Trump's threat on social media:

"They sound nervous about Texas," Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote on Bluesky.

"Good thing there's nothing dictatorial-sounding about that," progressive political activist Carol Norris wrote on Bluesky.

"Sure, why have people vote?" Retired Professor Emeritus of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, Jim Hagman, Ph.D., wrote on X.

"This might sound crazy, but what about just letting voters decide instead?" Napp Nazworth, Executive Director of American Values Coalition, wrote on X.